Making Monsters
Making Monsters Version 0.1 'Procedure' Determine monster class and level. Example: We're going to make a Hydra. A common, five-headed hydra, that is, since the Mother of all Hydras still swims the Ocean Infrigida. She's an Outsider, though a bestial one. Her descendants, however, are native to the material plane. The obvious choice is Animal or Chimeric Animal. Because they're highly magical creatures, we'll use Chimeric Animal. They're not unique creatures, but they are very rare and very dangerous to mortals. Let's put them at 6th level (though my general rule of thumb is that every epic creature should be unique). Determine ability scores. Ability scores start at 10. Humanoids have 8 ability points, Animals have 15 ability points, Dragons and Outsiders have 30 ability points and everyone else has 20 ability points. You can also use ability points to buy feats and skill bonuses, so remember that you can always come back to this step. Example: Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 10; 20 ability points. Hydras can talk, but only just. They're smarter than Animals (Int 1-4), but only just. We drop Int to 5. Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 5 Wis 10 Cha 10; 25 ability points. Connected to the essence of their mother, hydras have a connection to wisdom of the cosmos, but they tend to lose their own identities in it. Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 5 Wis 14 Cha 8; 23 ability points. Hydras are major physical threats, but rely more on their armored hides than agility. Their constitutions are legendary. Str 18 Dex 10 Con 21 Int 5 Wis 14 Cha 8; 4 ability points. We're going to hold those four remaining ability points in reserve, and come back later. Determine skills and racial skill bonuses, if any. A +2 skill bonus costs one ability point. Example: Int 5 is a -3 ability modifier, only leaving us with one rank per level. Remember that 6th level gives us +1 to all abilities, though, increasing it to 6 and a -2 penalty. Since hydras are guardians of watery portals, we'll put ranks into Observation, and Swim, since they are aquatic beasts. Determine feats and bonus feats, if any. A monstrous feat costs two ability points, while other feats cost four ability points. Example: We get normal feats at 1st, 3rd and 5th level. We get Natural Weapons as a bonus feat from Animal 1, and bonus feats from Animal at 2nd, 4th and 6th. All in all, this gives us six feats and Natural Weapons (we'll treat all secondary natural weapons as the non-immortal heads). Fast Healing is an obvious choice, as is Large Size and Huge Size. Poisonous (Con) is mandatory, and the hydra's miasma of venom can be expressed with the Damaging Aura (acid). Damaging Aura requires Resistance (acid 20). We've used all of our available feats, but we still need Subtype (Water), Speedy (Swim) and Natural Armor. We spend our four remaining ability points to pick up Speedy and Natural Armor, but we'll need four more ability points to afford Subtype. Determine weaknesses. Generally, a minor weakness (double damage from a certain material or the like) is worth two ability points, while something more significant (the Unicorn's -4 to everything verses virgins) is worth four ability points. Keep in mind that role-playing requirements (must ravage the countryside every 10 years) are not weaknesses. Example: Here's the obvious weakness: you can use the maim option of sunder to sever the lesser heads of a hydra without having to reduce it to bleeding. The hydra takes any damage associated with severing its heads. This in itself is a minor weakness. Let's also make them take double damage from fire (another minor weakness). Using the ability points gained from adding weaknesses, we can pay for Subtype. Crunch all the numbers, as normal. Example: Common (5-headed) Hydra Huge Animal Water DETECTION – wavesense 120ft, Observation +14; Init 9/4 Aura of acid (3d6+6), 10 ft.; Languages: Planar (Court) DEFENSES – AC '''18, '''flat-footed 14; CMD '''24 '''hp '''101; '''Dead: -32 DR 8/AP; fast healing 14 FORT +11 (3),' REF' +2 (3), WILL +5 (3) Resist acid 20; Weakness: mortal heads can be severed with maim option of sunder without reducing the hydra to bleeding; double damage from fire ACTIONS – Spd 30 ft, Swim 30ft; Space 15 ft; Reach 15 ft Melee immortal head: bite +8 (1d10+7 + poison); blunt/pierce/slash Melee mortal heads: bite +6/+6/+6/+6 (1d8+3); blunt/pierce/slash BAB '''+3; '''CMB +14 SA Poison: Fort DC 21: 1d8 Con/1d8 Con. STR 24 (+7), DEX 8 (-1), CON 26 (+8), INT 6 (-3), WIS 15 (+2), CHA 9 (-1) MORALE 13 FEATS: '''Damaging Aura, Fast Healing, Huge Size, Large Size, Natural Armor (B), Natural Weapons, Resistance, Speedy (B), Subtype (B). '''SKILLS: Observation +14 (6), Swim +29 (6) TECHNIQUES: '''UL 3 '''Max Dice: '''1; Total Dice: 6; Dice Value: 1d8 '''Styles: (2); Shark (Adept) 'Benefits: '+2 Swim, +1 Umzamo die (damage only) when made from or in aquatic environments.